DSL is one of the many technologies by which you can access Internet connectivity. There are many advantages if you are using a DSL connection. DSL connectivity offers 25 times faster Internet access speeds than dial-up modem, connecting multiple computers on a single DSL line, rare chances of sudden connection drop, and cost effective and 24/7 uptime service level agreements. Any prospective customer would surely get excited when so many features are offered on a platter. Unfortunately, there are infrastructure challenges for DSL providers and subscribers mainly with the service range of the company offering the DSL service. A customer who stays in rural areas may not get DSL Internet because there is no phone company close by. The root of the problem lies with the infrastructure investments that are required for offering services to far-off places.  Companies offering DSL services do a cost benefit analysis before they start offering service in some particular area. If there are not enough customers interested in DSL it would not be financially feasible for a company to make investments in infrastructure.

A cross country Internet backbone is needed to offer Internet connection to every home across the United States. The Abilene cross-country backbone offers speeds of 10 Gbps and their goal is to offer every Abilene connected desktop speeds of 100 mbps. The targets are high but can be achieved.The signals are transmitted through fiber optic cable which can cost about $30000-$50000/mile. DSL technology uses US local loops which can be 18ft. long. After investing such huge amounts on infrastructure development companies should recover costs. The backbone utilization at present level is no more than 30%. Local, regional and national players are leasing out fiber to companies which want to start DSL services. At the end of 2005 the total DSL household connections were approximately 40,000. With so much at stake the number of consumers for DSL Internet connectivity is not growing at expected rates.  Companies such as SBC, Verizon and BellSouth offer DSL connectivity to US homes. There are many agreements and arrangements that are being worked out by different ISP’s to increase bandwidth utilization and improve costs. Some of the initiatives that are being taken include exchange of traffic between different ISP’s, transit payments and “Sender Keeps All” (SKA) agreements. All these initiatives may reap benefits and make DSL connectivity a household commodity.

There are other challenges for DSL also. New technologies such as Satellite Internet connectivity are making fast inroads into the Internet market space. The Federal Communications Commission is constantly taking steps to ensure that broadband connectivity is made available to all US houses. DSL providers hope that their market share will definitely increase as the Government is giving concessions to companies which can take Internet connectivity to the interiors of America. They are taking all possible steps to increase their market share in this cut-throat ISP market place.